'The Crazies' Won't Infect Us Until 2010

One of three remakes currently in development for Sahara director Breck Eisner is The Crazies, a 1973 George Romero low budget classic that helped launch the whole string of outbreak movies that has continued unabated for 35 years. Well, that and Andromeda Strain, I guess. It's a movie ripe for a remake, and I guess everyone hopes it turns out as well as Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead. Overture Films has decided that it's going to take a few months more for the remake to ripen, however. The Crazies was set to open at the end of September and now we won't get it until February 26, 2010. I suppose there's a certain amount of sense to the move; fall is naturally bursting at the seams with horror movies and thrillers, and the first quarter of 2009 did not produce an unprofitable movie in those genres. And that's usually what this comes down to, even though it's never viewed positively when a movie is delayed. In addition to The Crazies, Eisner is working on Flash Gordon and Creature from the Black Lagoon. To the point that studios scrutinize the performance of tother films in the same genres, Eisner said earlier this month that Black Lagoon is in a holding pattern until The Wolf Man is released later this year.